Bullying goes digital, and parents vow to fight back

NAPLES - A fifth-grade girl was asleep when her friends pulled up her shirt and took a photo of her. The photo was posted on MySpace for other students to view.

It sounds like something you read about somewhere else, but it happened in Naples.

To prevent other incidents like this from happening, Cyber Bully Solutions hosted the first meeting of its Cyber Bully Support Group on Monday evening. The meeting was hosted by Cyber Bully Solutions co-owners Carrie Kerskie, president of Macone Investigations, and Jenny Craig, an outpatient therapist and CEO of Insite Strategist.

"We are getting into new territory here," said Kerskie, who is the mother of two children. "We wanted to talk to other people, to get our voices combined together."

Craig and Kerskie told the four parents attending Monday's meeting that in the millions of searches that happen each day, that images never leave the Internet once they are out there. Once an image is on the Internet, it can be taken down by the person who put it up. But it can always be viewed if another person has downloaded it.

"We are getting into new territory," Kerskie said. "This age group is growing up and they are not afraid of technology."

Kerskie told the parents that cyber bullying does not only extend to the computer and social networks like MySpace and Facebook. She told the parents that kids use cell phones, even video game systems as a way to communicate with one another.

"We have to educate you, the parents, as well, so you know how to talk to your kids, to understand how they are using their technology," she said.

There is work on bullying going on in the schools. All Florida schools were required to have a policy in place regarding cyber bullying by Dec. 1, and have ongoing training for administration and staff to receive Safe Schools funding under the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act. The Act, passed into law by the Florida Legislature earlier this year, is named after a 15-year-old Cape Coral boy who committed suicide in June 2005 after being bullied at school and on the Internet.

In Collier County, the School Board passed its policy last month. The 12-page policy includes provisions that address bullying, harassment and cyber stalking. The district involved students, parents, staff, administrators and representatives from the Collier County Sheriff's Office while forming the policy. Students participated at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

Kerskie and Craig said they also hoped to get into the schools to talk to kids about how they can protect themselves and what makes them vulnerable.

Kerskie said one of the problems with dealing with cyber bullying is that there is little legislation to combat it. The first case of cyber bullying has just been tried in a federal court of law. A Los Angeles jury convicted Lori Drew, 49, of three misdemeanor offenses of accessing a computer without authorization to inflict emotional harm, which is punishable by a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for each count. Prosecutors argued that Drew, who is from Missouri, and two others, with creating a profile of a fictitious 16-year-old boy on MySpace and sending flirtatious messages from him to a teenage neighbor, Megan Meier.

After Drew had the fictitious boy end the online relationship with Meier by sending her a message that said, "the world would be a better place without you," she hung herself in the closet of her bedroom.

Kerskie said cyber bullying cannot only follow a child through school, but in life as well.

"I talk to employers who Google potential employees to see what they are up to," she said.

Kerskie and Craig said they hope to host meetings once a month and grow from there.

"We want to keep kids safe and we want parents to understand what is going on out there," said Craig. "We want to be a one-stop ship for all issues. We want parents to know what to do and how to take care of the problem. We want kids to know how to use their gut response."

To learn more about Cyber Bully Solutions or the support group, call (239) 774-4490 or visit www.cyberbullysolutions.com.